For the December-issue of the O.J.A.I. for Radio KUZU 92,9 FM in Dallas/Denton, Texas I wrote and recorded a feature about the achitectural relations between the cities of Düsseldorf and Dallas. More information about our radiobroadcast for Reid Robinson's and Mark Ridlens's radioshow named "Sonic Assembly" can be found here: Link.
Düsseldorf - The Dallas of Germany
Hello
Mrs. Dreier, hello Mr. Farrelly, hello Dallas, Denton, Fort Worth and
Grand Prairie,
it's
a great pleasure for me to be on your show tonight and to imagine
that my words are being transmitted into the dark sky above the
glittering skyscrapers of Texas makes me really glad. You ask me
about the architectural relation between the cities of Dallas and
Düsseldorf, the German town where I have been living and working for
several years.
 |
| Dallas City Hall by I.M.Pei and Downtown Dallas |
At
a first glance the question about parallels between Dallas, which is
a relatively new city, and Düsseldorf, which was founded more than
700 years ago in the West
of
Germany, in a cool and humid area
close to the river Rhine, might be surprising. Nevertheless there are
several reasons for comparing the two cities.
Due
to the TV show named after the Texan city, the term "Dallas"
evokes similar associations all over the world. It's all about money,
oil, glamour, intrigues – and it is about architecture. In the
first moment of the opening credits you can see a motorway bridge
leading towards a cluster of modern skyscrapers. A pan shot – the
glazed city is sparkling in the Texan heat, then a camera flight over
the Reunion Tower and the blue, shimmering Hyatt Hotel, than another
pan shot over the cristalline fassades of the glittering city, taken
from a helikopter. This is the beginning of an epic story that
finally turned the city of Dallas into an exciting place of longing,
also for the European audience.
